The Spirit of Truth

[ezrider]

John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.

In this passage Jesus is declaring to us what the purpose of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter is for; even the Spirit of truth that shall testify of the son of God and the Spirit of Christ at work in your heart.

Plain and simple, the job of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Christ; but why then do we attribute to the Holy Spirit for teaching us about Satan, or an AntiChrist, or any other false god for that matter? Why would a God who said that you should have no other God’s before Him, send forth His Spirit of truth to teach us of false gods that are no gods, that we might serve them? That was the function and service of the Law; but that is not the function of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth testifies of Christ.

We have been given something, and it is a piece of fruit. It is a piece of fruit that contains knowledge; and that is the knowledge that the Holy Spirit would come and teach us all things. And because we believe that the Bible is the word of God, we have a natural tendency to then ascribe the things that we read or learn from the Bible as coming from the Holy Spirit. But God did not send his Spirit to interpret scripture for your own knowledge; he sent forth His Spirit to testify of the things that pertain to Christ.

In the beginning there was the Tree of Life and the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. By faith they could eat from any tree in the midst of the garden, even the Tree of Life; But by one word of knowledge, they were commanded not to eat from the tree of knowledge. And we all know how that story goes.

I have heard many claim that Anti-Christ disguises himself as Christ, even appearing as an angel of light, so that you can not tell them apart. Even so some have argued that the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge are one and the same tree, and like the wheat and the tares that you could not tell them apart. Like wise your Bible is also a Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, and it can also serve as a tree of Life. Can you tell them apart?

The Tree of Life and The Tree of Knowledge may very well be one in the same tree, but there is a subtle difference between the two. By Faith the Tree of Life gives of its fruit in its due season; But the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge is taken. Why? That they might be as God’s knowing good and evil.

When you claim that through the Bible the Holy Spirit teaches you about a coming antichrist character that you must warn everyone about, then you have been feeding on the fruit that comes from the tree of knowledge; and the last piece of fruit that tree will ever bear will be the knowledge that you, yourself are the antichrist, and the man of sin spoken of in 2 Thes 2:3.

I have had my fill of the fruit from the tree of Bible knowledge, and its fruit has soured in my stomach, so that its fruit, the fruit of knowledge is no longer desirable to me. I can no longer study the Bible and take its fruit as the source of Knowledge. Yet by the same token, when I sense understanding from the Spirit of the Lord, and it brings to remembrance a story or scripture reference from the Bible, then I find the same book by Faith can offer up its fruit freely through the Tree of Life, thus offering me a second witness to the understanding I have received in the spirit with a piece of fruit that is both nourishing and satisfying to the soul.

Maybe that last piece of fruit that we get from the tree of knowledge: that we each in our own are the man of sin and the antichrist that we seek after, has to be taken and yet given at the same time. A gift from the Tree of Life. It is a fruit to be taken when it is given freely. That by the spirit of antichrist, the man of sin disguises himself as an angel of light by working to be obedient in the flesh to a Law that he has taken from the Tree of Knowledge. Yet the Just shall live by Faith.



This discussion concerns what we think the Holy Spirit teaches us. Just because it is something we think we have found in the scriptures, should we attribute everything we think we understand from the scriptures as something that the Holy Spirit has taught us? If as the scripture says, that God is a jealous God, why then would He send forth His Spirit to testify of other gods?

Let’s discuss John 15:26 and the reason that Jesus said he would send forth the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth.

 

[Karl]

Thank you ezrider for the invite,

In reading, interpreting a verse we need to include other verses that will build up our understanding about it, one verse that does this is,

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. 1Jn 2:27

Putting the two together we see the Comforter/Holy Spirit is sent by Jesus from the Father to teach us the Truth, when we add what Paul has to say about this,

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: Rom 8:16

That means we are taught the Truth by the Holy Spirit through the gift of teaching given to someone in the church, when what I am hearing is from and through the Holy Spirit He is witnessing to my spirit it's true, when what I'm hearing is just someone's vain imagination or intentional false doctrine, He is witnessing to my spirit by saying, that's not from Me, that is taken out of it's original context as Jesus spoke it or that is a lie from the pit, that's why Jesus warned us to be careful of what we listen to,

And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. Mar 4:24

He went on to say, "Pay attention to what you're listening to! Knowledge will be measured out to you by the measure of attention you give. This is the way knowledge increases. Mar 4:24

If we have our own agenda to follow then what little we know will be taken from us, this is the first step down the trail to being deceived, ...and we see that all around us today.


Concerning the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, both Trees are with us today, while we see the Tree of Life is in Heaven we are born again, that means we have eternal life, right now, today with every breath we take Acts 17:25 and we are benefactors of it physically and spiritually every time we take Communion,

...however, as born again children, we can eat of the Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, when we do we slip from being spiritual to carnal, we are saying, I will judge what is Good and what is Evil in this situation, thus taking the place of God and following the Lie, we become like God, ...we cant' eat from both at the same time, we either trust in Jesus for everything in our lives or we trust in our earthly, demonic wisdom to lead us, ...which places us defenseless on the devil's playing field.


And brother, I really don't understand where you are coming from in saying this,

"I have had my fill of the fruit from the tree of Bible knowledge, and its fruit has soured in my stomach, so that its fruit, the fruit of knowledge is no longer desirable to me. I can no longer study the Bible and take its fruit as the source of Knowledge."

...care to explain?

 

[Gary]

If as the scripture says, that God is a jealous God, why then would He send forth His Spirit to testify of other gods?

What other gods?

 

[gr8grace3]

I can no longer study the Bible and take its fruit as the source of Knowledge. Yet by the same token, when I sense understanding from the Spirit of the Lord, and it brings to remembrance a story or scripture reference from the Bible, then I find the same book by Faith can offer up its fruit freely through the Tree of Life, thus offering me a second witness to the understanding I have received in the spirit with a piece of fruit that is both nourishing and satisfying to the soul.

The bible is the Holy Spirit. And you had better be careful by which 's'pirit you are listening to.

The Holy Spirit himself told/warned/cursed any of us that added a single word to His. He is not going to teach you anything apart from what is in His word.

A different spirit is telling you to leave the Bible.

He told us not to add a word, why in the world would you think the Holy Spirit would have to add something more and leave His word? Non-sense.

 

[Deborah13]

John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.

In this passage Jesus is declaring to us what the purpose of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter is for; even the Spirit of truth that shall testify of the son of God and the Spirit of Christ at work in your heart.
This discussion concerns what we think the Holy Spirit teaches us. Just because it is something we think we have found in the scriptures, should we attribute everything we think we understand from the scriptures as something that the Holy Spirit has taught us?

No

If as the scripture says, that God is a jealous God, why then would He send forth His Spirit to testify of other gods?

No.
But then I'm not sure I really understand why you think others believe the Holy Spirit is testifying of other gods.

Let’s discuss John 15:26 and the reason that Jesus said he would send forth the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth.

Let's add this scripture as to why the Holy Spirit was sent.
Joh 16:8 and having come, He will convict the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment;
Joh 16:9 concerning sin indeed, because they do not believe in me;
Joh 16:10 and concerning righteousness, because unto my Father I go away, and no more do ye behold me;
Joh 16:11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world hath been judged.

 

[Malachi]

John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.

First of all, that is only one aspect of the testimony of the Holy Spirit. In Jn 14:26 "He shall teach you ALL things and bring ALL things to your remembrance". In Jn 16:8 "He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment". And in Jn 16:13 "He will guide you into ALL TRUTH".

"All truth' means ALL truth -- the whole truth about God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), the whole truth about the Lord Jesus Christ, the whole truth about salvation, the whole truth about all Christian doctrines, and also the whole truth about the Devil and his evil angels, about the ungodly, about eternal damnation, and about the eternal destiny of the redeemed in a redeemed and purified universe.

but why then do we attribute to the Holy Spirit for teaching us about Satan, or an AntiChrist, or any other false god for that matter?

Already answered above, but everything in Scripture is from the Holy Spirit, whether He speaks of the righteous or the unrighteous, true God or false gods, holy angels or evil angels, Christ or Satan. Scripture reveals the battle between Light and Darkness.

I have heard many claim that Anti-Christ disguises himself as Christ, even appearing as an angel of light, so that you can not tell them apart.

That is false doctrine. The indwelling Holy Spirit enables the believer to distinguish between "the spirit of truth and the spirit of error".

The Tree of Life and The Tree of Knowledge may very well be one in the same tree, but there is a subtle difference between the two.

Since Paradise does not exist on earth any longer, this is a non-issue. Someone has fed you a false doctrine right here.

When you claim that through the Bible the Holy Spirit teaches you about a coming antichrist character that you must warn everyone about, then you have been feeding on the fruit that comes from the tree of knowledge

This is weird doctrine. The truth about the Antichrist is right there in Scripture, and Scripture was given "by inspiration of God". So this is really weird. I would say almost cultic.

I can no longer study the Bible and take its fruit as the source of Knowledge.

That is sad. The Bible is the Word of God and the Sword of the Spirit. It is possible that Satan has planted this thought in your mind, and created a "Tree of Knowledge" doctrine which is false. You keep bringing up "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" constantly. There is only one reference to it in Scripture in the Garden of Eden, so there is absolutely no reason to refer to it again and again. It is long gone. No one knows what happened to it.

This discussion concerns what we think the Holy Spirit teaches us. Just because it is something we think we have found in the scriptures, should we attribute everything we think we understand from the scriptures as something that the Holy Spirit has taught us?

Certainly. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

If as the scripture says, that God is a jealous God, why then would He send forth His Spirit to testify of other gods?

He is not "testifying" of other gods. He is exposing false gods and warning the world that there will be a false god seated in Jerusalem in the future. That is an incentive to turn to the true and living God, and the Lord Jesus Christ right now.

Let’s discuss John 15:26 and the reason that Jesus said he would send forth the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth.

In this passage we are told that when we read the Scriptures or hear the preaching of the true Gospel, the Holy Spirit will convince us that everything revealed about Christ in the Bible is absolutely true, and we should therefore believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. For the apostles, it was a direct testimony. For us it is through the Word of God, since "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God".

 

[JLB]

John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.

In this passage Jesus is declaring to us what the purpose of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter is for; even the Spirit of truth that shall testify of the son of God and the Spirit of Christ at work in your heart.

Plain and simple, the job of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Christ; but why then do we attribute to the Holy Spirit for teaching us about Satan, or an AntiChrist, or any other false god for that matter? Why would a God who said that you should have no other God’s before Him, send forth His Spirit of truth to teach us of false gods that are no gods, that we might serve them? That was the function and service of the Law; but that is not the function of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth testifies of Christ.

We have been given something, and it is a piece of fruit. It is a piece of fruit that contains knowledge; and that is the knowledge that the Holy Spirit would come and teach us all things. And because we believe that the Bible is the word of God, we have a natural tendency to then ascribe the things that we read or learn from the Bible as coming from the Holy Spirit. But God did not send his Spirit to interpret scripture for your own knowledge; he sent forth His Spirit to testify of the things that pertain to Christ.

In the beginning there was the Tree of Life and the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. By faith they could eat from any tree in the midst of the garden, even the Tree of Life; But by one word of knowledge, they were commanded not to eat from the tree of knowledge. And we all know how that story goes.

I have heard many claim that Anti-Christ disguises himself as Christ, even appearing as an angel of light, so that you can not tell them apart. Even so some have argued that the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge are one and the same tree, and like the wheat and the tares that you could not tell them apart. Like wise your Bible is also a Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, and it can also serve as a tree of Life. Can you tell them apart?

The Tree of Life and The Tree of Knowledge may very well be one in the same tree, but there is a subtle difference between the two. By Faith the Tree of Life gives of its fruit in its due season; But the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge is taken. Why? That they might be as God’s knowing good and evil.

When you claim that through the Bible the Holy Spirit teaches you about a coming antichrist character that you must warn everyone about, then you have been feeding on the fruit that comes from the tree of knowledge; and the last piece of fruit that tree will ever bear will be the knowledge that you, yourself are the antichrist, and the man of sin spoken of in 2 Thes 2:3.

I have had my fill of the fruit from the tree of Bible knowledge, and its fruit has soured in my stomach, so that its fruit, the fruit of knowledge is no longer desirable to me. I can no longer study the Bible and take its fruit as the source of Knowledge. Yet by the same token, when I sense understanding from the Spirit of the Lord, and it brings to remembrance a story or scripture reference from the Bible, then I find the same book by Faith can offer up its fruit freely through the Tree of Life, thus offering me a second witness to the understanding I have received in the spirit with a piece of fruit that is both nourishing and satisfying to the soul.

Maybe that last piece of fruit that we get from the tree of knowledge: that we each in our own are the man of sin and the antichrist that we seek after, has to be taken and yet given at the same time. A gift from the Tree of Life. It is a fruit to be taken when it is given freely. That by the spirit of antichrist, the man of sin disguises himself as an angel of light by working to be obedient in the flesh to a Law that he has taken from the Tree of Knowledge. Yet the Just shall live by Faith.



This discussion concerns what we think the Holy Spirit teaches us. Just because it is something we think we have found in the scriptures, should we attribute everything we think we understand from the scriptures as something that the Holy Spirit has taught us? If as the scripture says, that God is a jealous God, why then would He send forth His Spirit to testify of other gods?

Let’s discuss John 15:26 and the reason that Jesus said he would send forth the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth.

Here is what the Holy Spirit also teaches us from God's word, as He will lead us and guide us into all Truth.


The Holy Spirit inspired Moses to write these words, so that all who read them will know what God expects us to do when this situation and testing arises, that we may love the Lord and hold fast to Him, and walk in His ways.


1 "If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods'--which you have not known--'and let us serve them,' 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. Deuteronomy 13:1-4


Likewise Paul warns us of the same exact scenario that will arise in the last Days -

1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God...9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-4,9-11


The Spirit of Truth inspired Moses and Paul to teach us and warn us, and help to discern both good and evil.

This is part of the whole counsel of God.


JLB

 

[ezrider]

I am not one who is going to get caught trying to debate or respond to all of your individual comments, so please do not expect that. But I will make some general comments on what I have read from your comments when I can. But I must make a comment concerning the following quotes found within your replies:

The bible is the Holy Spirit. And you had better be careful by which 's'pirit you are listening to.

That is sad. The Bible is the Word of God and the Sword of the Spirit. It is possible that Satan has planted this thought in your mind, and created a "Tree of Knowledge" doctrine which is false. You keep bringing up "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" constantly. There is only one reference to it in Scripture in the Garden of Eden, so there is absolutely no reason to refer to it again and again. It is long gone. No one knows what happened to it.

I do not need to read the Bible or quote a certain scripture to understand that both of you by the very words you have written have declared that the Bible is your god. By the very words that you have written you have diminished the power and significance of the work of the Holy Spirit in forming the union within our spirit that the exists between the Father and the Son, that we might become a Son formed in the image of Christ. Your words declare to me that you have confined the power of the Lord God Almighty who created the heavens and the earth to the words found on the pages of a Book.

That to me is truly sad; for you have declared that the Bible is you God. You have made an idol out of it and then ascribe the power of the Lord and His Spirit to the words of a book. But you have your Bible and I am sure you probably know right where to quote it from. Maybe you would you like to remind me what the Bible tells us about making and worshiping idols as our gods, or having other gods before Him. And then what does the Bible tell you to do when you have been discovered in such a practice?

Please forgive me if this seem personal in any way; It is not intended to be so. I do not know either of you or your walk with the Lord, but I can rest assured that you are in the Lord's hands. I am only commenting on the words that you have written that appear to tell me that you hold up the Bible as your God, and your marriage union is with a Book.

 

[ezrider]

What other gods?

Is it not written in you scripture that ye are gods? I believe Jesus quoted that very scripture somewhere in the gospels.

People can make gods of many different things. And as we can see from the comments above, they can even make the Bible their god. They look to Satan as a God or rather a false god who desires to be worshiped as God, and then they spend there efforts trying to know everything about him so they will know him when they see him. When they look to interpret prophecy for themselves, they do so looking for an antichrist under every stone.

 

[ezrider]

That is false doctrine. The indwelling Holy Spirit enables the believer to distinguish between "the spirit of truth and the spirit of error".

That is the piece of fruit that I referred to in my original post. You have the knowledge that Holy Spirit indwells us; but by what measure do you use to distinguish between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Jesus said I am the Truth, and he told us that the Spirit of truth sent forth from the Father would testify of Him. Before Jesus was crucified, when he was on trial, it was asked of Him: What Is Truth?

 

[JohnD]

Isaiah 11:2 (KJV)
2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

John 16:13 (KJV)
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

John 3:1-18 (KJV)

1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 4:24
24 God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Isaiah 28:9-13 (KJV)
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

John 12:32 (KJV)
32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

John 6:44 (KJV)
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

 

[smaller]

That is the piece of fruit that I referred to in my original post. You have the knowledge that Holy Spirit indwells us; but by what measure do you use to distinguish between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Jesus said I am the Truth, and he told us that the Spirit of truth sent forth from the Father would testify of Him. Before Jesus was crucified, when he was on trial, it was asked of Him: What Is Truth?

To which Jesus gave no reply.

I'd suggest the question was horrifically off target.

The world which is our enemy asks such questions. And of course it has no answers to that question.

The world can not hear the voice of Jesus. His Words are meaningless to them all.

As to the original post, it is not wise to discount any Word of God, as it is written. I would never suggest any alternative course of actions, particularly relegating directions to what invariably turns out to be our own imaginations.

 

[Gary]

Is it not written in you scripture that ye are gods? I believe Jesus quoted that very scripture somewhere in the gospels.

People can make gods of many different things. And as we can see from the comments above, they can even make the Bible their god. They look to Satan as a God or rather a false god who desires to be worshiped as God, and then they spend there efforts trying to know everything about him so they will know him when they see him. When they look to interpret prophecy for themselves, they do so looking for an antichrist under every stone.

What scriptures are you referring to when you say the Holy Spirit testifies of other gods? Could you post them please?
.

 

[ezrider]

Thank you ezrider for the invite,

In reading, interpreting a verse we need to include other verses that will build up our understanding about it, one verse that does this is,

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. 1Jn 2:27

Putting the two together we see the Comforter/Holy Spirit is sent by Jesus from the Father to teach us the Truth, when we add what Paul has to say about this,

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: Rom 8:16

That means we are taught the Truth by the Holy Spirit through the gift of teaching given to someone in the church, when what I am hearing is from and through the Holy Spirit He is witnessing to my spirit it's true, when what I'm hearing is just someone's vain imagination or intentional false doctrine, He is witnessing to my spirit by saying, that's not from Me, that is taken out of it's original context as Jesus spoke it or that is a lie from the pit, that's why Jesus warned us to be careful of what we listen to,

And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. Mar 4:24

He went on to say, "Pay attention to what you're listening to! Knowledge will be measured out to you by the measure of attention you give. This is the way knowledge increases. Mar 4:24

If we have our own agenda to follow then what little we know will be taken from us, this is the first step down the trail to being deceived, ...and we see that all around us today.


Concerning the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, both Trees are with us today, while we see the Tree of Life is in Heaven we are born again, that means we have eternal life, right now, today with every breath we take Acts 17:25 and we are benefactors of it physically and spiritually every time we take Communion,

...however, as born again children, we can eat of the Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, when we do we slip from being spiritual to carnal, we are saying, I will judge what is Good and what is Evil in this situation, thus taking the place of God and following the Lie, we become like God, ...we cant' eat from both at the same time, we either trust in Jesus for everything in our lives or we trust in our earthly, demonic wisdom to lead us, ...which places us defenseless on the devil's playing field.

Thank you Karl for taking the time to respond to this thread and in helping to get the discussion started.

I have thought about the possibility that by Faith we are as children in the garden of God, obedient to the law of liberty that we find in Christ, free to eat the fruit of any tree that is in the midst of the garden, even the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. But is its fruit one to be desired?

Growing up out in the country on a farm, when out working in the fields I would stop by the railroad tracks that cut through the property and eat some of the wild Blackberries and Thimbleberries that grew up along the tracks. But there were other berries that I knew not to eat, poison berries and they could make you sick. And this I knew because I listened to the instruction passed along to me from the knowledge of my forefathers. Now if by some chance I had decided for myself to eat some of these poison berries and then got violently sick, I do not think that I would ever dare to eat them again.

I have eaten from the tree of knowledge, and I feasted on the knowledge that comes from the Bible. And knowing no different at the time, the fruit was a sweet savor to me, and it was desirable to me because by its knowledge I could become wise myself, learning of good and evil. But now that I have tasted of the better fruit, the fruit that comes from Christ and the tree of Life, I now understand the fruit of the former to be bitter and no longer desirable.

Rev 10:9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

I have found that for all the knowledge that can be learned from the Bible for one self, the Bible like the tree of Knowledge can only reveal so much: And that is the promise of death and the promise of salvation. When I take the fruit of knowledge found in the law, I find it declares unto me of my sin and then death is revealed in me, and because death is revealed in me it offers me the promise of salvation. The Bible can only give the knowledge of the promise of salvation, but the Bible holds no power to deliver on that promise. Knowledge can only make one aware of the doorway, but it takes Faith to walk through that door and take hold of those promises.

And brother, I really don't understand where you are coming from in saying this,

"I have had my fill of the fruit from the tree of Bible knowledge, and its fruit has soured in my stomach, so that its fruit, the fruit of knowledge is no longer desirable to me. I can no longer study the Bible and take its fruit as the source of Knowledge."

...care to explain?

This is a comment based upon my own experience and walk with the Lord. I have other things that I must attend to right know, but I will try to explain later on.

 

[ezrider]

What scriptures are you referring to when you say the Holy Spirit testifies of other gods? Could you post them please?
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Gary, there are no scriptures that say the Holy Spirit testifies of other gods and I have never implied such. Yet you seem to be attempting to twist the words that I have said to make it appear as though that is what I have said.
I think I have been pretty clear in OP that the Holy Spirit was sent forth to testify of Christ, not of any other.

I only ask the question why others think the Holy Spirit would teach them about false gods when they have the Law that does that.

 

[Karl]

Rev 10:9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

I have been taught by the Spirit during Bible Study and it is sweet as honey, but when I take it in, swallow it, it reveals an area in my life that needs correction, or a word of correction I must speak to a dear brother and then in both cases it becomes bitter to me.

Knowledge can only make one aware of the doorway, but it takes Faith to walk through that door and take hold of those promises.

So then how do we gain faith? When I read my Bible it tells me,

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Rom 10:17

If I understand you correctly, since you don't trust/read/believe your Bible any more then how are you receiving your faith? Please correct me if I'm misunderstanding what you have said.

 

[Chopper]

Hi there ezrider, Wow! I don't think I've ever read a document like this one of yours. I wish that I could agree with you, but I can't because I don't really understand your mindset when you posted it. The part that I really questioned was this: "When you claim that through the Bible the Holy Spirit teaches you about a coming antichrist character that you must warn everyone about, then you have been feeding on the fruit that comes from the tree of knowledge; and the last piece of fruit that tree will ever bear will be the knowledge that you, yourself are the antichrist, and the man of sin spoken of in 2 Thes 2:3."

I'm sorry but I'm confused as to why you would make such a statement. I certainly hope you're all right. You and I have swapped some good theology, and I consider you a good spiritual friend. I love you my Brother, and if you need to converse privately, start a SAC with me.

 

[Gary]

Gary, there are no scriptures that say the Holy Spirit testifies of other gods and I have never implied such. Yet you seem to be attempting to twist the words that I have said to make it appear as though that is what I have said.
I think I have been pretty clear in OP that the Holy Spirit was sent forth to testify of Christ, not of any other.

I only ask the question why others think the Holy Spirit would teach them about false gods when they have the Law that does that.

And I'm only asking who these false gods are.

 

[ezrider]

And I'm only asking who these false gods are.

Why do you want to know who these false gods are? What would with you do with such knowledge? There is no need that I should tell you these things, for that you have the law and the prophets; search them if you must.
So with all due respect, you can cease with this line of questioning.

 

[Gary]

Why do you want to know who these false gods are? What would with you do with such knowledge? There is no need that I should tell you these things, for that you have the law and the prophets; search them if you must.
So with all due respect, you can cease with this line of questioning.

Because you said this:

This discussion concerns what we think the Holy Spirit teaches us. Just because it is something we think we have found in the scriptures, should we attribute everything we think we understand from the scriptures as something that the Holy Spirit has taught us? If as the scripture says, that God is a jealous God, why then would He send forth His Spirit to testify of other gods?

I would just like to know who these other gods are. Simple request.
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